Beschreibung:

SCHENK, Pieter (1645-1715) & Gerard VALK (ca.1650-1726) (publishers). Composite Atlas. Amsterdam: Schenk & Valk, [ca.1710]. 2 volumes, oblong 2° (537 x 630mm). 433 hand-coloured engraved maps (3 folding, plate with manuscript number 181 in first volume on a half sheet). (Occasional light soiling, marginal in the main, one map in first volume detached with margins tattered, occasional small marginal tears, affecting the image area of two maps in second vol.) Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, panelled in blind (somewhat soiled, lower cover of the first volume detached, lower joint of the second split). ONE OF THE LARGEST SCHENK & VALK ATLASES TO APPEAR AT AUCTION IN RECENT YEARS. Both volumes have the remains of a contemporary manuscript index and the maps are numbered from 1-272 in the first volume and 1-218 in the second with various breaks where some maps have been (generally) neatly excised. The maps give a fascinating glimpse at the vast range of plates available to the publishers: most of the major mapmakers of the 17th century are represented here, either acknowledged, or with their imprints replaced by Schenk and Valk. The volumes comprise (in the conventional order of the time): (Volume I) 5 world maps, 1 Europe, 20 of the Iberian peninsula, 48 of France, 1 British Isles, 1 England and Wales, 44 English and Welsh county maps (including the Channel Islands), 1 Scotland, 8 Scottish county maps, 1 Ireland, 4 Irish provinces, 42 of the Netherlands, 8 of Switzerland, 57 of Italy, 1 of Sicily, 1 of Sardinia, 1 of Corsica, 1 of Malta. (Volume II) 94 of the Holy Roman Empire, 20 of Scandanavia, 12 of eastern Europe and Russia, 11 of Greece and the Balkans, 1 of Crete, 1 of the Mediterranean, 7 of the Middle East, 6 of China, 1 of Sri Lanka, 5 of the East Indies, 1 of Japan, 9 of Africa, 1 of the Canaries, 18 of the Americas, 1 of the Azores. (2)